The tranquil setting of Haigh hall was the start of our summer race campaign, Rob mcgrath drove Sarah Niz and me down to Wigan for the New 4 mile race series organized by wigan phoenix.
We had a good old trek to the start deep in the Haigh hall forest. there was a feeling of the alps or Pyrenees! the densely populated trees towing up above us and the path winding and twisting upwards into the distant horizon, the atmosphere was laid back and friendly, I had been suffering with post marathon blues and was hopeful that some race adrenaline would get the blood flowing and put some life back in the old legs.
Paul Carrol started us off and we surged forward, i was surprised to find my legs feeling pretty good as we made are way up the challenging ascent, passing the first mile in 6.15 with rob just behind me.Soon we were on familiar territory as we approached the hall, it was at this point Rob came past me like a fast moving express train, i jumped in behind with a few other guys for the ride.
Not far behind Niz and Sarah were rising to the challenge of over coming gravity! Niz short on training due to a demanding job was finding the hill hard work but gamely fought on , Sarah had undergone special training with Jon singleton on the infamous sandhill 6 which includes the dreaded Dig Dipper! But she too was finding the climb hard work especially as she had to run without her ipod due to new health and safely rules.
Up front Rob was pulling a group along inc me, at high speed as we took advantage of the downhill. We then turned right and headed towards the hall for the last time, Rob has a slight lead on me now but i slowly clawed him back as we reach the hall only for him to surge again on the final downhill. Rob hurtles into the finish recording a last mile of 4.52 leaving me in his wake !
Rob finishes in an excellent 11th 22.51 just 1 min 47 secs behind the winner Andy Ward wigan phoenix, I finish 16th 23.07 feeling strong on the hills but legs lacking speed on the downhills, maybe a few more weeks of recovery from the marathon will fix this !
We walk back to see Niz and Sarah finishing, first its Niz 34.59 her first time at haigh hall, then Sarah comes into view, enjoying the descent to finish with a respectable 36.50
Brian Grice will be pleased to learn the course measured 4.05 miles on my G.P.S. The race was very enjoyable great fun and well organized and thanks go out to PAUL CARROL and all at WIGAN PHOENIX, make sure to make it down for the june edition, you will not regret it!
RESULTS
| h:m:s) | 0:23:07 | 5:41 pace |
| Distance (mi ) | 4.06 | |
| Moving Speed (mph) | 10.5 avg. | 18.3 max. |
| Elevation Gain (ft) | +358 / -358 | |
| GPS Signal Quality | Excellent | MB Gravity Web Service |
| Similar Activities | My Digest TrailNetwork | |
| Download | GPS Device | |
| Export | ||
TRAINING FOR THE WEEK
Sun 18
easy run with JON round the sandhill 6 = 1.00
Sat 17
HALF MARATHON TRAINING, steady run over the sandhills for one hour then 5 x 1 mile selworthy rd hill loop at 1/2 marathon pace, 5.56 5.56 5.55 5.56 5.53 with 2 min recoveries.felt like hard work at the start of the miles, 3rd mile was the hardest and felt like i was on my last legs, but came around and felt stronger on last 2 efforts. = 2.04
Fri 16
Core training
Thur 15
6 x 1/2m with Rob. we used the selworthy hill loop and planned to run at 1/2 marathon pace or faster, felt quite good after the race yesterday. 2.56 2.52 2.49 2.56 2.47 2.42 with 2 min recoveries. ran back at marathon pace. =1.02
Wed 14
afternoon
4 miles vic park, 1 mile at 9 mph
Evening
HAIGH HALL 4 MILE RACE SERIES 16th place 23.07
Tue 13
easy run sandhills = 37.42
Mon 12
Ran down over the sandhills to meet up for club interval session, 8 x short hills, legs heavy, no energy, got lift back with Rob =1.37
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